The Film Detective

Angel and the Badman stars John Wayne as wounded outlaw Quirt Evans. When sheltered by a Quaker family, he falls for the family's angelic daughter, Penelope (Gail Russel). Though she brings on a transformation in Quirt's hard-boiled character for the better, he is ever-obsessed with avenging the killing of his foster father. The first starring vehicle that John Wayne produced himself, Angel and the Badman is an unconventional Western romantic classic that is richly entertaining for both fans...

Jimmy Stewart plays Jimmy Haskell, a failed music store owner who gets involved with a scrappy band of Irish musicians, much to the dismay of his uncle C.J. (Charles Winninger), an avowed music-hater who had hoped Jimmy would work in his health food store. Bandleader Horace Heidt stars as himself, while Paulette Goddard, fresh from her appearance in Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator, stars as Molly, Jimmy's love interest. This rollicking comedy was loosely inspired by the popular 'Pot O'...

Salt of the Earth centers on a long, difficult workers' strike against a mining company in New Mexico. Ramon Quintero (Juan Chacon) fights for equity of wages as well as health and safety issues, but at home he mistreats his wife, Esperanza. When the men are forced to end their picketing, Esperanza joins the other women who demand to play a role in the strike, against their husband's wishes. Written, directed, and produced by members of the original blacklisted "Hollywood Ten," Salt of the...

Mad scientists raising the dead!Showgirls battling like wild women! What else does one need? Perhaps a scene where a cat's head is squeezed until its eye pops out? It's all here in director Dwayne Esper's glorious 1934 debacle: Maniac! Whether you're a connoisseur of vintage exploitation flicks, or simply find them amusingly inept, this could be the movie for you. It's loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Black Cat.' And when we say "loosely," we mean Edgar wouldn't recognize it!

The luckless king of a small European nation must endure a domineering queen, a daughter who wants to flee with her boyfriend, a peasant revolt, and a devious son who wants the throne for himself. Can the spoiled prince take advantage of the crazy situation around his beleaguered father? This comic fable from director Lowell Sherman (Night Life of the Gods, Born to Be Bad) stars Mary Astor as the princess, and Lowell Sherman himself as the troubled king!

Hollywood's first Tarzan, Elmo Lincoln, stars in this surprisingly faithful adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs's famous novel. Nearly a century after it was first released, it's still a stirring tale of the orphaned child who grows to become king of the apes! Enid Markey stars as Jane, while True Boardman and Kathleen Kirkham appear as Lord and Lady Greystoke. Director Scott Sidney, who was in charge of over 100 silent shorts and features, would team with Lincoln again in 1921 for The...

Who would ever mistake Roy Rogers for Billy the Kid? That's exactly what happens in this action packed horse opera from Republic Pictures. Rogers arrives on the scene shortly after Pat Garrett (Wade Boteler) kills the infamous Billy the Kid (also played by Rogers). Though Billy was a killer, he was on the side of the homesteaders against a coterie of big time ranchers. As Billy's death is unknown to the public, Roy gets Garrett to let him pose as Billy to continue the fight against the...

The search is on for a little boy lost in the jungle. But can the rescue team lure him away from the animal kingdom? That's the burning question in this adventure from director Robert Emmett Tansey, a versatile Hollywood hand known for his action-packed westerns. The film stars Don C. Harvey, Forrest Taylor, and Alyce Lewis, with a script from Frances Kavanaugh, a female pioneer in Hollywood known as \"the cowgirl of the typewriter\"!

An unfaithful wife and her lover scheme to kill her husband, but things are turned upside down when the lover is unintentionally killed instead! Then, in the best noir tradition, the husband goes into hiding and lets his wife take the rap! With a stellar cast that includes Brian Donlevy, Ella Raines, and Anna Mae Wong, this little noir gem from director Arthur Lubin (The Spider Woman Strikes Back) takes us into the lives of people who are only one kiss away from murder!

Thirty million readers followed the exploits of Dick Tracy in the daily comics, so it made sense for RKO to jump on the bandwagon. The first entry in what would be a four film series finds Tracy hunting a murderer who slashes his victims to pieces. Morgan Conway stars as the crime-busting detective, while the menacing Mike Mazurki is cast as Splitface, a hulking goon who lurks in the shadows. William Berke, who directed everything from westerns to jungle movies during his years on Hollywood's...

Also known as Black Belt Jones 2, this hybrid of Blaxploitation and martial arts adventure stars Jim Kelly as Lucas, a former CIA operative tracking down a stolen diamond in Hong Kong. The only problem is that people keep dying before Lucas can get the information he needs!